August 2, 2012: Day 8, Lewis and Clark, Fort Clatsop, Fort Stevens, and Cannon Beach

Playing at camp.

Ecola State Park

Junior Rangers at Fort Clatsop

Rifle demonstration at Fort Clatsop.

Fort Stevens State Park

Battery Russell at Fort Stevens 

 Hydrangeas at Canon Beach  

  

Canon Beach

What a view!  The drive back to camp.

We drove to Fort Clatsop National Historic Park, the nearest National Park so we could replace our National Park Passports.  While there, we found some great resources for teaching about the journey of Lewis and Clark.  We had a fairly busy and stressful day, after all the excitement of yesterday.  It was nice to have some time to just sit at the beach.

July 28, 2012: Day 3, Junior Rangers and New Camp

Most of the day was a driving day, but first we had to finish our Junior Ranger books.

Great job girls!

Frog at camp!  The girls found this little guy right in our camp, they sure enjoyed him, and he even lives in a stump here.  

Playing with bubbles in the trailer.  

Journal
We are at our new camp and all snuggled into bed.  This morning we got up and the big people got showers.  We also got to have sausage and eggs while the girls filled out their Junior Ranger notebooks.  They are learning so much from doing the activities at the parks.  Once the notebooks were finished we drove up to the visitor center and the girls turned in the books.  The ranger was very nice and we enjoyed visiting with her.  We drove for a long time to reach our new camp.  Once here we played around camp and the girls found a frog.  We are rearranging tomorrow schedule a bit, it will be a great day.

July 27, 2012: Day 2, Crater Lake

Beautiful girls!

Who knew waking up in a rest stop would be so much fun :)

Our first look at Crater Lake, a picture of the view my passengers got (you can't tell, but I hear that it was a scary view off the edge of the road). 

 Our camp at Crater Lake, BEAUTIFUL!

Pumice Castle and Vidae Falls

    

Phantom Ship

Pinnacles and Plaikini Falls.  

This is how much ash fell during the eruption of Mt. Mazama!

Journal
Wow!  What a busy fun filled LONG day!  We woke up this morning in a rest stop :).  I think everyone slept okay.  I had set the time on the clock wrong, so I thought we were getting up at 7, but we actually slept in till 8!  We had Spam and eggs for breakfast and then got on the road to Crater Lake.  After entering the park we got our first glimpse of the lake!  It was beautiful!  We got to drive around the rim past the visitor centers to the campground.  We were concerned they would be full, but we got a tent site, until I told the lady again that we had a trailer and then we got to choose our own “yellow” site.  We got a really nice large site.  After setting up camp and having lunch we headed back to the visitor center.  We picked up our Junior Ranger packets and started working on them.  Next we headed up to the visitor center along the rim.  We did a little shopping and enjoyed the Junior Ranger program.  The kids got to make postcards of what they liked best about the park.  Selena drew a ranger badge and the lake and Abby drew a boboat (bobcat with the c an o) and trees.  For their effort they got ranger patches.
Then we drove the rim drive around the caldera edge.  We saw lots of neat views of the lake and island.  We also saw Mt. Thielsen in the distance.  We saw the pinnacles and hiked to Plaikni Falls.  The trail was pretty steep!! The trail was 2 miles long so we put the girls in the trailer so I could push them like a walker.  We finished up the drive and had chicken fajitas for dinner.  We had a color fire and then bedtime for the girls.  The adults enjoyed the fire for a bit longer :).  We all did foot soaks in tea.  Man it feels nice to get clean feet.  Tomorrow we move along to the beach.

July 11, 2012: Day 7, Grayland Beach State Park

 

Collecting rocks at Kalaloch Beach.

Getting their Olympic National Park Junior Ranger badges.

 

Camp at Grayland Beach State Park.  Just a short walk to the beach!  The first picture is taken from the dune trail out of our site.  30 seconds to the sand, and 2 minutes to the surf!

  

Having fun!

  

Drove the truck out and on the beach.  The girls had a lot of fun and we flew the kite for a bit too.

   

Dinner!

Journal
Today started off by getting camp all picked up to move along on our journey.  After we were all loaded up we hiked down to the beach from camp to collect some flat rocks for some craft projects.  Once we left camp we stopped at the Kalaloch Lodge Visitor Center and the girls turned in the Junior Ranger books and took their ranger oath.  It was pretty exciting for them.
After a short drive, we set up camp at Grayland Beach State Park.  Our campsite is in the sand dunes within walking distance to the beach.  After lunch we drove out on the beach to play for a bit.   We splashed in the surf and dug a play area for the princesses.  Selena even made Princess soup!  I taught Grandma how to fly our kite and we had a fun time with that.  Then we came back to our site and the girls played outside for a long time.  After our yummy dinner of spaghetti and red potatoes, the girls got to have a bath and shower in our little tub.  Once they put on their “sleep masks” they were out.  Tomorrow we are headed to Westport and back to the beach.